wouldn't the problem with these mean they would "always" occupy space and one wouldn't be able to "force" them to give up the space the way i did unless you disabled/deleted it yourself?

anyways so many suggestions and no way of checking what the real issue was until it happens again... ugh.

I've had system restore grow way beyond it's maximum size.The only way to fix it was to turn it off so it would delete everything, then turn it back on again.Volume shadow and system restore is stored in "C:\System Volume Information"So you can check the size of that folder. If windows tells you you don't have access. Go to the security tab in the properties and grant your user access.---He who stumbles around in darkness with a stick is blind. But he who... sticks out in darkness... is... fluorescent! - Brother Silence

#22arleasPosted 10/21/2013 7:44:18 AM

The only thing I can think of right off hand that might have an effect is the trash...

If you have your trash set to some ungodly high amount, it can literally fill up your hard drive before it starts deleting old stuff... if you look in your trash and you see gigs and gigs worth of stuff then that's probably the reason.

Right click on the trash can, select properties, change the maximum size to something reasonable, and then it should delete files when you hit that limit.... You can also change the size per drive... I've got mine set to about 1 Gig for each drive as I rarely have files larger than that to delete.

The only OTHER thing is the computer WORM...if you have done a scan for any viruses or worms or whatever already then maybe you should be checking the health of your drive to see if it's about to die on you...or use windirstat to find out if something is filling up the drive with files you can actually remove...---http://badges.mypersonality.info/badge/0/19/193056.pnghttp://www.speedtest.net/result/2309944238.png

#23AsucaHayashi(Topic Creator)Posted 10/21/2013 8:23:36 AM(edited)

So you can check the size of that folder. If windows tells you you don't have access. Go to the security tab in the properties and grant your user access.

before i accessed the folder i checked to see how much SR was allowed to take up(around 1XGB) so i lowered it to around 5GB and after that i checked the folder which was just around 400MB so going to have to wait till next time to see if that was really it.

@arleas my trash is set to 4GB and haven't had any issue where the files i deleted still took up space that wasn't recognized(what i mentioned above is that i deleted files which freed up space but somehow my overall space was still in decline).

it's probably not a virus or HDD malfunction either since i've had it happen once before a long time ago and my computer was also working perfectly back then just like now(aside from the issue of course).---PC hardware doesn't need to match console hardware in price when PC gamers save literal thousands from the software they buy. http://www.steamgamesales.com/

#24DarkZV2BetaPosted 10/21/2013 8:54:47 AM

Check your disk for consistency. I had a similar problem with a SeaGate drive at one point, where I could delete files, but sometimes they would continue to eat up space on the drive. After a disk check, it vomited up a bunch of deleted files, most of which no longer worked right/were partially rewritten, and now it works fine.---Want that Shield!Ball and Cup on ps mobile has framerate issues. -stargazer64

#25happyscrub1Posted 10/21/2013 9:17:09 AM

schadow posted...

HDD cancer?

LOL,

10/10 joke---Never forget.... Building #7

#26Kerr AvonPosted 10/21/2013 9:38:11 AM

First of all, scan your disc to make sure there are no errors (right click over it in My Computer, select Properties, Tools, Error Checking. If you have to schedule a check then agree, then reset your PC to let SCANDISC run.

Next, download and run CCleaner (http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner), and delete everything it finds, then run CCleaner's registry scanner and delete the faults it finds (let it back up the errors for you when it asks).

If you still think you're missing a lot of space, then you're going to have to do some digging - download Treesize (http://download.cnet.com/TreeSize-Free/3000-2248_4-10139400.html), and use it to see which folders are taking up too much space. But unless you know what you're doing, then it can be difficult to know what to delete. Windows' installation does grow over time, as Windows keeps backups (unnecessarily, as far as I can see, most of the time) of many of the files it installs, plus it doesn't delete files that it should, plus it often fails to mark files as temporary, so they get lost forever in the Windows folder.

Eventually, all you can do is reformat and reinstall Windows, but that's a last step (though it's great when it's done, as Windows loads so much faster!).---"PCs don't catch viruses or malware. Stupid users do." - The Cranky Hermit.For all things N64: http://z9.invisionfree.com/Nintendo_64_Forever/